New Moon in Libra: exploring identity in action
it may not be a sprint or a marathon, but a relay
New Moon in Libra on 10/21/2025 5:25AM PDT
When I coached track and field, relay team training was often the most challenging and satisfying part of practice. The goal was to train the team to lose as little individual speed as possible in the hand-off. The challenge was to perform the hand-off successfully within the narrow lane and legal zone. When done flawlessly, the 4x100 meter relay race looks like a single runner moving around the track, all four runners maintaining near peak speed even during the three treacherous hand-offs.
The New Moon is an energetic hand off from our inner realm (represented by the Moon) to our outer world (represented by the Sun). It can be as tricky as a relay hand-off, and our goal is to carefully and efficiently move what we have held in our hearts into the hands of our ego. As I observed with the relay runners, trust issues arise, both of self (will I be able to run fast enough to hand off the baton before the end of the zone?), as well as trust of others (can I turn my back and run, trusting that my teammate will yell “hand” before I reach the end of the zone?).
While we spend the majority of our time in the inner world of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, it can be hard for us to trust that we will be able to safely and/or efficiently bring our dreams into the daylight. Thankfully, practice makes perfect, and each set of lunar phases provides us an opportunity to work on mechanics.
The positions of the other planets at this New Moon suggest which mechanics to work on. For this lunation, we are to consider the psychology of beliefs, identity, and relationship. Know that I am not a coach in this scenario, but a teammate, so please take what resonates and leave the rest.
The Sun and Moon are at the end of the sign of Libra, on a Sabian Symbol which speaks of humankind’s unique ability to consciously reach for and hand off knowledge to future generations. We are in a relay of sorts, with the Universe watching as we attempt to move Earth around the track. Each of us has something of value to contribute to our collective movement. Yet we may feel as if our hands are tied. Or as if we already carry batons which were forced into our hands - and we certainly don’t want to hand these particular batons forward. Or perhaps we are standing waiting for someone to place a baton in our empty hand.
Mercury and Mars making a conjunction in Scorpio (exact on 10/19) have some coaching for us. Scorpio themes are often about deep psychological truths and the necessity of acknowledging and processing difficult truths in order to evolve. Not exactly a topic Libra relishes, yet as the Sun and Moon unite at the end of Libra, it is clear that a superficial sort of harmony is not truly balanced. Mercury focuses our perception, mental processing, and communication skills and hands them off to action-oriented Mars to execute.
The final task in this practice is informed by the Jupiter (in Cancer) square aspect to Chiron (in Aries) on 10/23. We are to consider how the beliefs of one’s family/community/culture of origin (Jupiter in Cancer) caused an intrinsic wound (Chiron in Aries) via identity. The theme of individual and group identity, and liberation from anything inauthentic, is a topic near and dear to Pluto in Aquarius’s heart. Wounds caused by the contagious and progressive cultural disease of cognitive dissonance and the resulting hypocrisy are under examination in order for healing to occur.
Once we understand how the beliefs we hold are derived from the collective unconscious, and our ancestral, family, and cultural lineage, we can understand our personal beliefs and how those have prevented or provoked our behaviors. Our behaviors are ideally the expression of our unique essence, our Sun. Who or what are we honoring through our expression of self, and how does this impact the group effort?
Even though it has been decades since those track practices, I can still hear the sound a dropped baton makes, see the mad scramble to salvage the hand-off, and feel the heartbreak of the missed connection between teammates.
Relevant Sabian Symbols1
Moon, Sun 28/29° Libra
Humankind’s vast and enduring effort to reach for knowledge transferable from generation to generation.
Keynote: A deep sense of participation in, and commitment to, social processes which seek to brings to all men Truth and a greater Life. “CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION”
Mercury, Mars 20/21° Scorpio
Obeying his conscience, a soldier resists orders.
Keynote: A readiness to face the results of a refusal to follow the authoritarian patterns of an aggressive society. “INNER FREEDOM”
Chiron 24/25° Aries
The possibility for man to gain experience at two levels of being.
Keynote: The revelation of new potentialities. “ON PROBATION'“
Jupiter 24/25° Cancer
A will-full man is overshadowed by a descent of superior power.
Keynote: The response of spiritual forces to the integration of personality through positive will-full endeavors. “ENDOWMENT'‘
Tarot haikus for each zodiac sign
Aries. I The Magician.
No uncertainty/I make my reality/For better or worse
Taurus. King of Wands.
Dazzle me with truth/I’m tired of the fantasy/Quality ain’t cheap
Gemini. Queen of Pentacles.
Slow efforts pay off/When you want the thing to last/Nature is no fool
Cancer. XI. Justice.
We are overdue/I can’t shield everyone/From the storm coming
Leo. Page of Cups.
Allow me romance/In a nonsensical world/Love brings levity
Virgo. VIII of Cups.
I tried to hold out/Until the final push came/Now I’m free to thrive
Libra. V of Wands.
I’ve tried avoidance/And they came for me harder/This time I’ll fight back
Scorpio. XVIII. The Moon.
Some people hide well/Their pockets have more pockets/Secrets tumble out
Sagittarius. XIV. Temperance.
When I’ve lost my way/Divine guidance shines on me/I regain footing
Capricorn. III of Pentacles.
Hard work feels lighter/When friends become co-workers/Authentically
Aquarius. Queen of Swords.
Behold clarity./Distraction doesn’t phase me/I hold space for me
Pisces. Ace of Wands.
Urgency moves me/When inspiration strikes me/And passion seeks me
I would love to hear if anything resonates for you!
Love,
🦋 Maria Luz
Related content:
Excerpts from An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and its 360 Symbolic Phrases by Dane Rudhyar
It’s so like Cancer to want to nurture and “shield” others.
My daughter is Cancer Sun and Moon, and an Enneagram 2. All very clear in her lifestory--and in her work (property insurance claims adjuster for a major company), where she calls on her empathy every hour.